Question

What are the benefits of using the learning organization approach to design? Now consider that, in order to learn, organizations must be willing to tolerate many mistakes because it is only through the effort of understanding mistakes that learning can occur. With this statement in mind, what are some of the potential problems with the use of the learning organization approach?

Answer 1

Learning organization is a group of people working together collectively to enhance their capacities to create results they really care about. Organizational learning involves individual learning, and those who make the shift from traditional organization thinking to learning organizations develop the ability to think critically and creatively

Those who work in a learning organization are ―fully awakened‖ people. They are engaged in their work, striving to reach their potential, by sharing the vision of a worthy goal with team colleagues. They have mental models to guide them in the pursuit of personal mastery, and their personal goals are in alignment with the mission of the organization. Working in a learning organization is far from being a slave to a job that is unsatisfying; rather, it is seeing one’s work as part of a whole, a system where there are interrelationships and processes that depend on each other. Consequently, awakened workers take risks in order to learn, and they understand how to seek enduring solutions to problems instead of quick fixes. Huber (1991) considers four constructs as integrally linked to organizational learning: knowledge acquisition, information distribution, information interpretation, and organizational memory. He clarifies that learning need not be conscious or intentional. Further, learning does not always increase the learner's effectiveness, or even potential effectiveness. Moreover, learning need not result in observable changes in behavior. Taking a behavioral perspective,

Personal mastery applies to individual learning, that organizations cannot learn until their members begin to learn. Personal Mastery has two components. First, one must define what one is trying to achieve (a goal). Second, one must have a true measure of how close one is to the goal. Long-term goals are often something to be achieved in the next three to five years. In personal mastery, the goal, or what one is trying to achieve, is much further away in distance. It may take a lifetime to reach it, if one ever does. Individuals who practice personal mastery experience other changes in their thinking. They learn to use both reason and intuition to create. They become systems thinkers who see the interconnectedness of everything around them and, as a result, they feel more connected to the whole. It is exactly this type of individual that one needs at every level of an organization for the organization to

It is a framework for the cognitive processes of our mind. In other words, it determines how we think and act. A simple example of a mental model comes from an exercise People act this way to avoid embarrassment or threat. They are remain in unilateral control, maximize winning and minimize losing, suppress negative feelings, and as rational as possible by which people clear objectives and evaluating their behavior in terms of whether or not they have achieved them. The assumptions held by individuals and organizations are called mental models. To become a learning organization, these models must be challenged. Individuals tend to espouse theories, which are what they intend to follow, and theories-in-use, which are what they actually do. Similarly, organizations tend to have 'memories' which preserve certain behaviors,

The commitment by an individual to the process of learning is known as personal mastery. There is a competitive advantage for an organization whose workforce can learn more quickly than the workforce of other organizations. Individual learning is acquired through staff training, development and continuous self improvement; however, learning cannot be forced upon an individual who is not receptive to learning. Research shows that most learning in the workplace is incidental, rather than the product of formal training, therefore it is important to develop a culture where personal mastery is practiced in daily life. A learning organization has been described as the sum of individual learning, but there must be mechanisms for individual learning to be transferred into organizational learning

A learning organization actively creates, captures, transfers, and mobilizes knowledge to enable it to adapt to a changing environment. Thus, the key aspect of organizational learning is the interaction that takes place among individuals. A learning organization does not rely on passive or ad hoc process in the hope that organizational learning will take place through serendipity or as a by-product of normal work. A learning organization actively promotes, facilitates, and rewards collective learning

There are many reasons why an organization may have trouble in transforming itself into a learning organization. The first is that an organization does not have enough time. Every learning step mostly the time consuming steps. First we invest our valuable time then the result will come and after some time this step will also out dated. The new learning frame work has a lot of risk it may success or may not. What recommendations can be provided to enhance learning in organizations? What would an optimized learning structure look like in theory and what are the implications of such in practice? How does it Employees and management may have other issues that take priority over the learning process. They give priority to other issue. Trying to change the culture of their organization.The team may not be able to commit the time an institution does not have the Appropriate help or training. For an organization to be able to change, it needs to know the steps necessary to solve the problems it faces. As a solution, a mentor or coach who is well versed in the learning organization concept may be necessary. The change may not be relevant to the organization's needs. Some time they adaptation the learning system that same firm adopt it. this is not beneficial for the institution. Time should be spent on the Actual issues of the organization and its daily issues. To combat this challenge, Learning and the pursuit of personal mastery needs to be an individual choice, therefore enforced takeup will not work. In addition, organizational size may become the barrier to internal knowledge sharing. When the number of employees exceeds 150, internal knowledge sharing dramatically decreases because of higher complexity in the formal organizational structure, weaker inter-employee relationships, lower trust, reduced connective efficacy, and less effective communication. As such, as the size of an organizational unit increases, the effectiveness of internal knowledge flows dramatically diminishes and the degree of intra-organizational knowledge sharing decreases. Problems with Senge's vision include a failure to fully appreciate and incorporate the imperatives

Stubbornness and Resistance to Change This is prevalent mostly in environments with individuals who have been at their jobs for a long time, and are set in their ways. Older companies have a hard time with organizational learning, if they have older career people working for them who feel they know darn well how to do their job, and won’t have some young guns telling them how to do it better. This kind of mentality is inevitable, and all human beings are prone to it, so it’s the first and most severe barrier to overcome. This is where you as a leader must be able to win them over and make the understand that it is for their benefit, not detriment that changes and new ideas are being brought in.

Ignoring Purple Elephants There are often problems and situations in a professional environment that everyone knows about, but nobody wants to discuss. This may be the result of it being a sensitive subject that could result in offense, or possibly something that collectively is upsetting to the whole, resulting in the innate desire to turn the other way. These things, however unpleasant, must be discussed, openly though with discretion. If problems exist that go ignored then learning dynamics will ultimately fail as a result. One must never ignore the purple elephants, they will trample everyone in time

Lack of Direct Leadership Leadership that is overly passive isn’t going to get the job done with organizational learning. While some passive, mellow mindset helps in leadership with modern culture, leaders need to be present and involved in every aspect of learning, to motivate people and give them the resolve and confidence they need to press on. Leaders must ask difficult questions and be a little tough where need be – tough love isn’t always a bad thing.

Disregard of Team Success In many corporate cultures, a mindset sinks in of congratulation and adoration of personal accomplishments, but a sense of team spirit and unity isn’t really there. Beyond a sense of zeitgeist within the company as a whole, teamwork is viewed as a means to an end, and not something to be valued itself. For organizational learning to be successful, then team success and unity must be valued equally to if not more than individual success and prosperity